This summer has been one of the most influential in my entire life. I feel like I never really had a moment to catch my breath, look around, and appreciate the ride until today. I’m going to do my best to recap all the adventures I’ve had thus far. Here we go.

Almost immediately after I finished my freshman year of college, I started rehearsing for a play called “Elvis Has Left the Building”. It’s a hilarious comedy about Elvis Presley, who has gone missing just when his manager, ‘The Colonel’, needs him to perform for a casino in Vegas in order to erase the Colonel’s gambling debt. To temporarily replace Presley, the Colonel hypnotizes his less-than-intelligent employee, Roscoe, into believing he is the King of Rock and Roll. The Colonel accidentally hypnotizes his friend Candy as well, all the while keeping a nosy reporter, Jill Tanner, from discovering that Elvis has disappeared. Needless to say, hijinks ensue. The Colonel was played by my boyfriend Chris, Roscoe by my friend Caleb, Candy by Austin (someone I had the pleasure of meeting thanks to this show!), and Jill Tanner by my friend Corinne. I had the honor of playing Trudy, the Colonel’s no-nonsense, Austrian assistant. The Austrian accent was hard to learn, but very fun to use.

“Elvis Has Left the Building” was produced by a small theatre company in Hayward, WI, and my friend Tommy (who is nineteen, mind you) directed it. I still think that’s pretty amazing. I mean, while he was backpacking through Europe with Chris, he was also emailing the board at Serendipity Productions and asking if they could produce this play he hoped to direct.

Getting to be apart of that show was such a great experience. Not only was I performing again with my close friends, but finally I had a chance to apply all the techniques I had learned thus far at AMDA outside of a classroom setting. Our teeny cast of five people worked wonderfully onstage together, and the fact that it was a comedy made it even better—these guys are already very funny offstage, so performing in this show was practically second nature.

One thing I don’t miss about performing? The horrible anxiety I get before any show. We had been working really hard during our 3 week rehearsal period, and I truly believed in our ability to do a great job. But still, hours before each and every performance, I was pacing around or bouncing my leg, going over lines in my head, reminding myself of entrances, etc. In the very seconds leading up to my very first entrance, you would find me backstage swaying side to side, clutching my hands in a prayer.

Following the close of Elvis, I jumped right into my job as Assistant Musical Director in Chequamegon Childrens Theatre’s (or CCT for short) production of The Music Man. For five summers I had been one of the kids, from ages seven to eighteen, that got to perform onstage. For the first time, I tried my hand at musically directing alongside my good friend (and idol) Sidney Reynolds.

Deep down, I had always thought I would like to teach music or even direct musicals with children. This opportunity affirmed the fact that, yes, this is exactly what I should be doing. Getting to show these kids how to connect with the world of the play, and how to have fun onstage was… there isn’t a word for it. All I can say is that I truly loved every second of it. Even the seconds where I was shushing the chattier children, or saying “put your tablets away we have to get onstage!”. Was it stressful and exhausting at times? Yes, all things are. But the work I did with those guys was so rewarding that I never doubted that it was worth it.

I think my favorite ‘breakthrough’ moment from the whole show was when we actually got the kids to engage with the scene, even if they didn’t have any lines. In rehearsals, I was standing along the side of the stage and reacting very expressively to whatever was being said. I’d say all sorts of crap like, “TROUBLE?! From a POOL TABLE?!”. Pretty much whatever I could do to make the little ones react as well, I did. To my surprise, they engaged. They became actors. It was a real little thing, getting them to look shocked or excited. But to me it made all the difference in the world, because I had done my part in getting through to them.

“I have realized now that performing won’t be enough for me, I want to inspire through teaching as well. ”

I was so humbled when the other directors—and founders of the children’s theatre—would tell me that I was doing such a great job with the kids, or that I should pursue this as a career. I always thought my calling was to perform. I have realized now that performing won’t be enough for me, I want to inspire through teaching as well.

Coming to this realization is both invigorating and terrifying! I think discovering that you were meant to do more than the one thing you always wanted to do on this earth is all part of growing up. I used to see the world as very black and white in terms of my future. I firmly believed that everyone grew up and followed the same path or guideline with life: you go to school, you take your classes, you figure out what you like to do, you go to college, and you learn how to do that thing for money. Once you’re done with college, you get a job and you start doing your thing. You buy a house, a car, you meet someone and get married, have children, and then raise those children to follow The Guideline and be good people. You retire from doing the thing you did all your life for money, and then you get to do fun things like move to Florida, or travel the world.

“I think the really terrifying thing about life is having the courage to ultimately do what you want”

Good God. Even writing that out now, I’m thinking “Are you friggin’ serious, Kennedy?”. That is so not how life goes! Or hell, maybe it does! The truth is, life goes any particular way it wants, and that’s probably the number one thing I have learned this summer. I think the really terrifying thing about life is having the courage to ultimately do what you want despite potential, no, inevitable upset, all the hard work it’ll take, and the possibility that things won’t work out. The other terrifying thing is allowing yourself to change your mind and start over.

Anyways, three weeks flew by and before I knew it, CCT came to a close. This left me with one very important task: figure out what my next steps are to become a music and theatre teacher. I’ve been working quietly on this, and I’ll open up about my progress when things become more concrete.

After CCT, my summer got pretty quiet again. I jumped back in to working full time at the Brick House Café, where I went from being a waitress/coffee barista to a cook. The cooking thing is actually a very recent development, and I’ve been struggling to get the hang of making the orders quickly. But honestly? I really like it. I didn’t think I would, because for the longest time I was too afraid to go anywhere near anything that could burn or cut me. Spending the last year attending a college that doesn’t have a food plan was hell on my wallet, but now I’m looking forward to getting creative and cooking for myself! You know, like an actual adult.

In August I celebrated my nineteenth birthday by watching the sunrise on a very foggy Jackson Lake, had lunch at the Brick House, swimming off the pontoon on Lake Namakagon, and Wing Ding night at Plamor Bar. It was fun, relaxing day, and I was very fortunate to spend it surrounded by my family and friends. For the rest of the month I worked a lot, went home for about two nights, had a fabulous time exploring Minneapolis with my best friend Dana (while taking #artsy pictures like the one below), and worked some more. I also spent lots of time with Christopher, and for labor day weekend we celebrated his twenty-first birthday with coffee (obviously), a trip to Barnes & Noble (more on why later), and some hiking.

That was pretty much my summer! It was probably the craziest, most eye opening summer of my life, and I’m not ready for it to be over. I have less than a month before I need to be back in New York City, so I’ve been (ever so slowly) getting my things in order for my return. In the meantime, you can expect that I will be drinking lots and lots of coffee.

-Ken